As lions covered most of Southern Europe in the ancient times (used by the Romans in the arenas) the mountain lion still does in North and South America.Of the Eurasian lion (which is now called the Asian lion), about 350 survive now in an Indian nature reserve.

The American smaller cousin does a lot better in his native continent. Vast virgin areas in the Western U.S., Canada and South America, with lots of prey, make life easy for him.

As an artist, I am very inspired by this very aesthetic member of the cat family. Its colors suit so well the different habitats of the western U.S. A cougar crossing a sagebrush area is a delight for the eye. The cat I painted is stalking a prey; the background, however, is not Western scenery. I wanted to put this magnificent cat back in territory that it once occupied before Europeans discovered the Americas. Cougars were found from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. With the exception of the few Florida panthers (estimated between 30 to 50) the cougar became an animal from the West. The scenery one sees in my paintings is rather Midwest or Eastern, where American oak and maple are quite common, and where the colors are different.